Greg Sargent endorses my idea that the use, discontinuance and effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques, or EITs, should be debated at the upcoming confirmation hearings of Leon Panetta and Gen. David Petraeus. I don’t accept his characterization that any technique used by the Bush administration was “torture,” but we can agree that it’s a highly relevant topic. And Greg skirts the most interesting aspect of EITs — the use of information derived from them in killing Osama bin Laden — by stating “Panetta went on to preside over the CIA at a time when this country accomplished one of its leading counter-terrorism goals — one that didn’t happen during a pro-torture president’s tenure.” Read full article > >

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Time to reopen the interrogation debate

The debate over whether torture led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden — a case that many conservatives and Bush apologists have made in recent days — may go far beyond op ed pages and blogs and may very well receive a public airing in Congress. That’s because Republicans are likely to raise it at the upcoming confirmation hearings for David Petraeus, Obama’s choice to head the CIA, and Leon Panetta, the current CIA chief who is now the President’s pick for Defense Secretary. Post blogger Jennifer Rubin makes the case that Republicans should push Petraeus and Panetta on whether “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or EITs, helped lead to the death of Bin Laden: Read full article > >

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Bring it on

The Obama administration is considering Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, as the next possible CIA director, an administration official confirms to CNN. The official would not be identified because no announcements have been made about upcoming personnel decisions.

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Big changes for national security team

Gen. David Petraeus seems to be taking allegations that a U.S. “psychological operations” unit targeted members of Congress. The general, who is in charge of all U.S. forces in Afghanistan, released a statement saying he’ll investigate the charges laid…

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Petraeus Orders ‘Psy-Ops’ Investigation

Who does he think he is, Stanley McChrystal? General David Petraeus apparently caused offense to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s aides in a closed-doors meeting by suggesting Afghan citizens burned their own children and then blamed the U.S. His exact…

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Petraeus Offends Afghan Government

Washington – Despite evidence that the Taliban insurgency had grown significantly in 2010, the U.S. intelligence community failed to revise its estimate for Taliban forces as part of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan in December. That unusual decision was in deference to Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S.-NATO forces in Afghanistan, who did not want any official estimate of the insurgency’s strength that would contradict his claims of success by Special Operations Forces in reducing the capabilities of the Taliban in 2010. read more

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Gareth Porter | Deferring to Petraeus, National Intelligence Estimate Failed to Register Taliban Growth

A new debate is swirling in Washington pushing for Gen. David Petraeus to get a fifth star like military giants of the past.

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Is Petraeus a five-star general?

General David Petraeus has his work cut out for him: Civilian casualties are at record levels in Afghanistan, with more than 2,000 having died in 2010. According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, 2,043 civilians, 1.292 policeman, 821 Afghan soldiers,…

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Civilian Casualties at Record Level

Now that President Obama has authorized Gen. David Petraeus to continue to execute the current strategy in Afghanistan, the question is: Can the U.S. strategy succeed? The administration’s review of its policy identified areas of progress but noted that “the challenge remains to make our gains du…

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Why we must stick with Obama’s Afghan strategy

Do you think Afghan President Hamid Karzai was happy to see him? President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Friday. His plans are tightly guarded, though he will be meeting with Karzai, General David Petraeus, and also American troops at…

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Obama Makes Surprise Trip to Afghanistan

Washington – The revelation that the man presumed to be a high-ranking Taliban leader who had met with top Afghan officials was an imposter sheds new light on Gen. David Petraeus’s aggressive propaganda about the supposed Taliban approach to the Hamid Karzai regime. Ever since August, Petraeus had been playing up the Taliban’s supposed willingness to talk peace with Karzai as a development that paralleled the success he had claimed in splitting the Sunni insurgency in Iraq in 2007. read more

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An Overeager Petraeus Ignored Danger Signs on Taliban Imposter

The US commander in Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus, orders an investigation into the death of a kidnapped British aid worker in a rescue attempt.

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US to probe failed Afghan rescue

The Rev. Terry Jones, the leader of a small congregation in Florida, recently announced he would burn copies of the Quran on September 11. A broad spectrum of figures in public life, including President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus, urged him not to.

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Opinion: Free speech proves its merit

As many as 2,000 additional troops — including a number of U.S. forces — may be headed to Afghanistan in the coming weeks under a plan being proposed by Gen. David Petraeus, CNN has learned.

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2,000 more troops for Afghanistan

It’s an unfortunate analogy, given what’s happening back home, but Gen. David Petraeus relies on traditional counterinsurgency language when he talks about expanding an “oil spot” of security in Afghanistan.

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Petraeus explains Afghan security plan